


sunshine smile

by swinally



Category: Carry On - Rainbow Rowell
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Human, Fluff, M/M, Swearing, Theater AU, and they get coffee together and its really great, and this is unedited, because i am utter and complete trash for theater aus, pure fluff, simon and baz have no issues, they are just adorable freaks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-18
Updated: 2016-04-18
Packaged: 2018-06-03 00:08:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6588844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/swinally/pseuds/swinally
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>baz is the main villain in the watford drama club production and simon won't stop smiling at him from across the stage and it's honestly too distracting.</p>
<p>“every time I look at you during a scene you smile all goofy-like and you shouldn’t do that because I’m the villain, seriously what is up with you??” AU ft. adorable dorks</p>
            </blockquote>





	sunshine smile

**Author's Note:**

> this is completely unedited, pacing is gross, probably doesnt flow very well, the formatting disgusts me, and i think i switched to past tense in the middle of it. its trash is what im saying. but could you let me know if you catch it when the tenses switch?? im curious as to whether it's noticeable or not

**BAZ**

The golden boy was messing with Baz’s acting again.

Baz didn’t even know the kid’s name, but it really threw him off when he looked up to see that perfect, glowing smile. All bright, blue eyes and straight, white teeth… 

Baz was supposed to be the evil, intimidating villain. His castmates were supposed to be trembling in fear before him, not smiling him a smile that could’ve melted him.

But here he was, at the first dress rehearsal for their high-school drama production. Baz was delivering some of his most dramatic lines, doing quite well.

“And you! How selfish of you to assume that I-” Baz was cut off by that _stupid_ smile from that _stupidly_ adorable boy with the _stupid,_ bronze hair and the _stupid_ freckles across the stage. The main protagonist, Penelope, rolled her eyes, clearly annoyed by Baz’s hesitation.

“Basilton?” Baz was snapped back into reality by his director and muttered an apology.

“Um, uh- sorry, was just a bit- uh- distracted…” Baz attempted to pick up where he left off, stuttering out the rest of the scene, all the while sneaking glances at the blond boy. 

Once the rehearsal had concluded, Baz decided to approach the curly-haired supporting cast member that was throwing him off so much. He found him amongst other cast and crew members backstage and tapped his shoulder. The freckled boy turned around.

“Um- hi, I’m Baz.”

“Simon.”

The golden boy now had a name. Simon. Simon who has a flawless smile and amazing hair and was almost three inches shorter than Baz. 

“Nice to meet you. Anyway, I’ve noticed that during our scenes together you always- uh- smile at me. And it _really_ is not helping me channel my villainous, evil side to have to look up and see the literal sun looking at me from across the stage,” Baz responds. Simon laughs nervously and runs his fingers through his hair.

“The literal sun, huh?”

Baz blushes, only just now realizing what he said.

“So do you want me to, like… stop smiling at you?” Simon asks, looking confused.

“I mean… no. Yeah? Just… could you try not to distract me from my lines?”

The bronze-haired boy smirks, before saying, “I can try, but no promises.” He then strolls off, but not before winking. (Wait had the cute boy really just _winked_ at him? Baz must’ve been dreaming.) Baz was left standing alone and thinking about the interaction he just had with Simon. He had a feeling that Simon wouldn’t need to be smiling to distract him from now on.

Baz chatted with a few other castmates, changed out of his costume, and went home. All the while thinking of golden smiles and freckled skin.

**SIMON**

Simon hadn’t even realized he had a habit of staring at Baz during performances.

Baz just looked utterly adorable when he tried to be intimidating. He would furrow his eyebrows and lower his voice in a way Simon found more endearing than anything else.

Ever since the Watford Drama Club began working on this play, Simon had slowly developed an appreciation for Baz. He was a truly talented actor and his hair just looked so _soft._ Simon thought he had been subtle about his admiration of Baz, until their conversation backstage.

As he was driving home from the rehearsal, he mentally cursed himself. 

_Why the hell would you WINK at him? And what did you think you were doing when you said “no promises?” Great, you fucked up. He probably thinks you’re a creep now._

At their next practice, Simon’s gaze kept drifting to Baz. He had to continuously make an effort to look away, and then chastise himself. Simon could’ve sworn that at one point, when he looked at Baz, Baz’s eyes (the color of the sky before a storm, like polished river stones) were already gazing in Simon’s direction.

The rehearsal went on just like that, filled with stolen glances and pink cheeks. 

Simon rushed backstage after the run-through was complete, hoping to get home quickly for dinner. But Simon never did get what he wanted.

“Simon?” Simon whipped around at the sound of his name. He found Baz standing at the open door of Simon’s dressing room (how he managed to get his own dressing room, Simon wasn’t sure). 

“Yeah?” Simon said, his eyes wandering to Baz’s hair, which was pulled into a bun. Simon was sure that Baz was the only person who could ever manage to pull off a man-bun.

“I- uh- don’t know if you noticed, but I was still pretty… distracted today,” Baz began. (Simon had been a bit too focused on the monumental effort that was not looking at Baz to pay attention to his performance today.) “And I don’t think it was because you were actually smiling at me, because you weren’t today,” Simon noticed the smallest of frowns on Baz’s face at this comment, “but I think it was because of your hair. It shines nicely under the stage lights and it was hard not to look at.” Baz’s cheeks visibly filled with color.

Simon was acting a lot less cool about Baz complimenting him than he had last time. He stuttered, “I, uh, thanks. Your hair is nice, too. Even like it is now.” He gestured to Baz’s bun. Baz raised his hand to his head and touched his hair at the mention. 

**BAZ**

Baz had no clue what he was doing. But he was here. Talking to the cute boy. Might as well just go for it.

“Would you maybe be, uh, interested in getting some coffee with me sometime?” Baz stammered nervously. He watched as Simon shuffled awkwardly, blue eyes pointing towards the cracked, tiled floor.

“Yeah,” Simon paused, “that would be nice.”

Baz was unable to prevent a grin from spreading across his face.

Simon looked up. He had a shy smile showing. “We should probably exchange numbers. You know, for planning purposes.”

So they did. And then, Baz had hurried home, eager to text Simon.

_hey there, sunshine smile. when’s our date?_

friday, 4:45, mage cafe. 

see you then. ;)

;)

**SIMON**

Penelope and Simon were walking out of school after classes ended on Friday.

“Do you want to go catch a movie or something?” Penelope asked.

“I actually have plans.” Penny raised her eyebrow at that.

“What kind of plans?”

“A date,” Simon said, avoiding her eyes in an effort to conceal his blush.

“With whom?” (Only Penny would use the word “whom” in conversation.)

“Baz,” Simon said quickly. Penelope stopped in her tracks, her eyes widening. He attempted to continue walking, but Penny grabbed his arm.

“Woah there,” she said, “you’ve got to tell me more.”

So, Simon explained it. The shared glances across the stage, the nervous conversations. Once he had said that their date was scheduled for 4:45, Penelope pulled out her cracked phone and squinted at the screen, checking the time.  
“You’d better hurry. It’s already 4:30.” At this point they had resumed walking and were arriving at the student parking lot.

“Shit, thanks. I’ll text you,” Simon said hurriedly before rushing to his car and climbing inside.

**BAZ**

Simon was five minutes late, which contrasted nicely with the fact that Baz was five minutes early.

Baz was seated, waiting for Simon when he rushed in, looking frantic. His eyes seemed to search the room for a moment before settling on Baz. Baz watched him attempt to smooth out the wrinkles in his t-shirt before approaching Baz.

“Hey,” Simon smiled that golden smile, “sorry I’m late.”

“You’re fine. Should we order?” Baz felt himself smile as well, enjoying Simon’s bright, lively presence.

They ordered and received their drinks. Simon sat in the seat across from the one Baz had been settled in when he arrived, and Baz slid back into the same seat. They sat quietly for a moment, sipping on their drinks (Simon’s was covered in a layer of whipped cream, which didn’t seem terribly out of character to Baz).

“What’s your favorite color?” Simon blurted, disrupting the silence.

“Blue,” Baz answered. “What’s yours?”

Baz watched as Simon considered the question for a moment, playing absentmindedly with a blond curl as he did. 

“I know it may be the obvious answer, but I really love yellow.”

Baz laughed at this detail, it seemed so fitting.

Simon tentatively reached for Baz’s hand and took it in his own across the table. Then, he asked another question. “So, how’d you get into acting?”

Their date went on like that. Holding hands and getting to know each other. By the time Baz announced that he needed to head home to work on homework, he couldn’t stop smiling like an idiot. He wanted to know everything about this beautiful boy. 

As they both stood from their seats, Baz hesitated before bending down and pressing a quick kiss to Simon’s freckled cheek. When he pulled back, Simon’s sunny smile was back. 

Both boys exited the coffee shop with cheeks sore due to excessive grinning and a warm feeling inside their stomachs.

At the next rehearsal, Baz was still hopelessly distracted by the golden boy.


End file.
